Xiaomi’s First Alexa-Enabled Smart Speaker Looks like Echo Dot

The Echo Dot-lookalike from Xiaomi’s sub-brand supports both Alexa and Cortana.

Amazon Echo Dot works in tandem with Alexa voice assistant. 

(Photo: The Quint)

Xiaomi’s first smart speaker is here, and not only does it work with Amazon’s Alexa, but the brand has managed to equip it with Microsoft’s Cortana as well.

But more than the launch of the product, we’re intrigued by the design similarity of the Yeelight smart speaker with Amazon’s Echo Dot, which is already retailing in the market for Rs 3,400 (discounted prices in India right now).

Also Read: Amazon Echo Dot First Impression: Desi Alexa Not Quite There Yet

The speaker will be available in China from January-end with a price tag of $30 (Rs 1,800 approximately), making it another pocket-friendly smart home product from Xiaomi.

This is what you get with Yeelight Smart Speaker. (Photo Courtesy: Mijia)

As you’d expect, the Yeelight smart speaker also runs via Wi-Fi in your household, and supports Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) to connect with multiple devices.

The product listing on the website suggests the speaker packs 2-watt speakers with six microphones, which gives you the power to throw voice commands at it from up to a range of 5 metres.

In terms of pure specs, this smart speaker gets a quad-core processor with 256MB of RAM and an internal storage to cache its processing data (that ought to be stored on the cloud).

Yeelight smart speaker or Amazon’s Echo Dot? (Photo Courtesy: Mijia)

And while you get the Mute button to stop the microphone from listening to all conversations, there’s an additional button, right at the centre, which are the only notable differences between the Yeelight smart speaker and Amazon Echo Dot.

It is not really surprising that the speaker works with Alexa, but the only reason that could have prompted them to opt for the relatively nascent Cortana for this device is Xiaomi’s recent partnership with Microsoft.

Smart speakers have been big winners this winter break in markets like US and Europe, where Amazon has made merry, especially with Apple holding on to its HomePod speaker till early 2018.